AT&T Mobility settles over third-party content charges: Amount still unclear

The rash of class action lawsuits against cellphone carriers over unauthorized third-party content charges on consumers’ bill may entering a new phase: settlements.
Plaintiffs’ lawyers pressing such a suit against AT&T Mobility said the first national settlement of its kind has been reached with the No. 1 mobile phone operator and preliminarily approved by a Georgia state court. A hearing to consider final approval of the settlement is set for Dec. 8. It is unclear how much money AT&T Mobility will pay out in refunds.
Meantime, scores of similar lawsuits targeting wireless carriers and third-party providers of ringtones, games, graphics and other content are pending against Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel Corp., T-Mobile USA Inc. and Alltel Communications L.L.C. A separate class action lawsuit against major cellular carriers and mobile virtual network operators was recently filed in a Mississippi federal court.
Those lawsuits, unlike the one subject to settlement in Tracie McFerren v. AT&T Mobility L.L.C, are playing out in federal courts.
“Most defendants who are sued tell us that their primary goal is to protect their customers,” said Jay Edelson, one of the plaintiffs’ attorney. “By agreeing to provide this type of unprecedented relief, AT&T proves that it stands behind its words. This is both a great result for the class and should put a lot of pressure on other carriers to demonstrate that they, too, are serious about their customers’ welfare.”
The class action – comprising more than a dozen similar suits around the country – covers AT&T Mobility subscribers who received unrequested third-party content between January 1, 2004 and May 30, 2008, and have not received refunds.
The settlement contains no admission of wrongdoing by AT&T Mobility.
“Since the mobile content business took off a few years ago, AT&T has taken aggressive action to put industry-leading safeguards in place to protect our customers from unauthorized charges from third parties,” said Marty Richter, a spokesman for AT&T Mobility. “We believe this settlement is consistent with that approach.”
Richter added: “This settlement concerns mobile content sold by third parties to our customers, beginning in the early days of the mobile content business. We believe it’s fair and in the best interests of our customers and AT&T.”
AT&T Mobility, according to Richter, has implemented policies to better safeguard its subscribers:
–requiring all premium third-party content, such as monthly subscriptions, to be purchased using a double opt-in process in which subscribers are required to first request the content, and then, before they are charged for the content, again say that they really want it;
–requiring that content providers disclose the terms of each transaction, like the monthly price, and how to cancel the subscription;
–requiring third-party content providers to provide customers with monthly reminders of their subscription plans, including the name of the service, the billing period and amount charged, and instructions for terminating the subscription;
–offering free parental controls – an easy way for parents to block purchases of third-party content.